In a multilateral context, effective negotiation skills are critical for managing interdependencies, leveraging power and influencing outcomes. Mastering negotiation tools can therefore assist in securing beneficial agreements at the international level. Especially developing and the least developed countries must often rely on such “soft power” influence to effectively promote their interests in the multilateral arena. Moreover, increasingly complex global challenges that require long-term solutions, such as climate change, create new dynamics in multilateral negotiations.

Through the 2010 Negotiation Series, offered by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Olof Palme Memorial Fund, diplomats at UN Headquarters will receive training from top negotiation experts on effective negotiation skills in multilateral conferences, and learn firsthand from experienced diplomats and international civil servants who have successfully negotiated agreements in the peace and security, social and economic, and environmental spheres.